


Extension

by Remember_Me (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Major Character Death (But Also Not?!)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-17 11:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Remember_Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had a final boss to take down. He had front lines that needed filling and he had friends that needed protecting (they were capable on their own, Dave knew, but he would deep-throat his own sword before he'd allow even the slightest possibility of one of his friends getting killed; not with him around to fill the role of canon fodder in their stead). So he accepted his responsibility and took on his duty without reluctance. They were going to win and no one was going to die-unless someone had to- and then that someone would be him.</p>
<p>But fate had either decided to toss them a bone, or had gotten bored of the relentless assault it had entrenched all of their lives in entirely. He was bloodied and exhausted--they all were--with faces matted with dirt and gore and cuts and a weariness that never seemed to fade, but they were alive. Their session was coming apart at the seams with everything around them rapidly deteriorating into nothingness, but all of them were alive. Dave had upheld his role, and even managed to squeak by alongside everyone else. That was all he needed to know to accept whatever it was that was going to happen after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Extension

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a couple of other people toy with the idea of the homestuck kids' session falling apart after defeating L.E, and I thought I'd join the fun! So please forgive my unoriginality; I have a bit of a habit of clinging to other peoples' good ideas haha.

He was in and out of consciousness for a while, pleasantly drifting back and forth into empty yet peaceful dreams. On weekends when there was no school and no intent to mess with Dave just for the hell of it, Bro would sometimes let him sleep in. Those were Dave's favourite times. The mornings would quietly drift by with him snuggled under his blankets; any worries he had all but forgotten in those soft moments.

Dave felt himself being picked up, and wondered if that's where he was now--back at home with Bro. He probably fell asleep on the futon again, and Bro was carrying him back to his room. He cracked a heavy eyelid open hesitantly, fully expecting his brother to grin down at him and promise to get back at him later for falling asleep on the futon; he was instead met with the confusing sight of his best friendleader John's backside. He then became aware of a bony shoulder pressing into his stomach, as well as his suddenly very sore arms and legs dangling on either side of his friend.

Dave grunted in discomfort at having a sizable gash in his side aggravated. Wide shoulders or not, being thrown over John's was far from pleasant. There was also something jammed between Dave's stomach and John's shoulder, and when Dave craned his creaky neck to the side, he saw two slender arms crossed behind John's head that were tied in place with his windsock. Their nails were painted green.

"..'Issat Jade..?" Dave pushed out. He found it awfully hard to talk with the wind being pushed out of him. John jolted slightly in response, and Dave felt more than he saw John turn his head up and towards him.

"Oh, you're awake? Yeah," John took a shaky breath. "Jade's right here- I got Rose, too." Behind the exhaustion in his voice and his slightly labored breathing, he sounded relieved. Dave could feel the battered arm stretched around his back trembling slightly from exertion, and knew that John probably wasn't in tip-top condition. But knowing that John, Rose, and Jade were all still around brought him relief too.

"..Th' gang's all here..." he mumbled, eyes sinking closed again; he was still so tired. John gave a slight chuckle that ended in a wet cough.

"Yup, and man.. you guys are heavy," after another rattling breath, he shifted his shoulder slightly. "I sort of feel like- like a pack mule right now, only for people. I am a people mule, Dave."

Dave wanted to tell him that he would still be a pack mule if he was carrying people, dumbass, and fought against the heaviness of his burning eyes to try and keep up with John's idle banter. But he found himself unable to muster much of a reply as he began slipping back into blackness. "mmh," he affirmed brightly.

"I told you it was a bad idea to have that last bag of doritos before the fight, but your fat butt didn't listen," John went on, and Dave distantly wondered how he could sound so casual--so upbeat--while badly injured and drifting along to god-knows-where in a broken universe with his deadweight companions.

"You were all, 'shucks man, one las' bag of my cheese dusted trah-angles ain't gon' hurt no one, yeehaw' but that was a filthy lie, Dave. You know it." He coughed wetly yet again, wheezing a bit to catch his breath. Dave could feel them drop slightly from where they were floating and felt a pang of worry; what would happen when John got too tired to keep going?

From far behind them a muffled siren blared, and Dave opted to ignore it. _Didn't you get the message, buddy? The end already came and passed—we don't need your warning._ "....Dave? You still with me, man?" John nudged him slightly, voice now concerned in addition to tired. Dave groaned in response and, now slightly more awake, tried to find purchase on the back of his friend's dirty shirt. He wanted to push himself up--to relieve the pressure on his stomach--but had no such luck; his arms felt like limp noodles and he winced as he lowered his torso back down.

Apparently aware of his pain, John gave Dave a single light, trembling pat on the back in a sympathetic gesture "Just hang on a little longer.. Don't.. don't go dying on me, okay? You were pretty heroic out there, so it'd probably be bad if you kick the bucket now.." John then said quietly--more to himself than to Dave--"I don't think I'm going much farther, anyways.."

Somewhere—it sounded miles off but somehow echoing clearly through the expanse of nothing—there was a resonating explosion.

Dave was thrust back into a consciousness he didn't remember slipping out of. His suddenly hammering heart thrummed loudly at the back of his throat as he realized they were no longer floating, but _plummeting_ into pitch black at break-neck speed. John, face bruised and barely clinging to consciousness, had bundled the three of them up in his arms with his back facing whatever constituted the ground at this point. The wind roared around them and yanked at their ragged clothes (Dave could barely hear his own breaking voice over the whistling screams), but he was close enough for John to hear him.

" _SHIT,_ what are you doing?! We're falling!!"

The strained muscles in John's arm worked to pull Dave closer to his chest, and with a far-away voice he spoke, "I'm bracing us for impact." As if to demonstrate just how fast they were falling, Johns glasses came loose from his ears and flung off of his face, up into the crackling nothing above. If they were going to hit something below them, they were going to hit that something hard.

Dave pulled away, gaping in horror at what John was suggesting. "Are you fucking _nuts?!_ Let go of me!" His bloody palm pushed against the arm binding him, but couldn't do much in the weak state he was in. He wasn't about to let his best friend become a fucking cushion for him, though.

"Stop! John- FUCK! Just-" In his struggle Dave bit down on his tongue, effectively cutting himself off and choking on the blood now filling his mouth. That seemed to give him enough of an adrenaline rush to ignore the protest his body gave him, however, and he managed to pathetically wiggled himself up. Tangling his fingers into the back of Jade's shirt and grabbing on to John's free arm, Dave leaned his body to the left to try and shift their weight. He fought against the howling wind just before John grunted and jerked his arm away from Dave's grasp. He looked angry—angrier than Dave had ever seen him—and made quick work of grabbing the front of Dave's hood and pulling him back in again.

" _Don't._ " John's harsh voice held an almost pleading tone to it, but Dave ignored his command and continued to struggle. He wanted to punch John in his stubborn goddamn face. Dave wasn't going to let him be the fall guy; That was his job. They had been falling for too long, and Dave had no idea how much longer he had until they were swallowed up. So in a last ditch effort,

“ _John,_ ” he gripped the tattered blue hood around John's neck. “Let me help.”

John stared at him for a moment, then he just closed his eyes and laughed. Dave would never forget that.

Despite the wind and destruction all around them, the moment suddenly felt muted and still to Dave; He wondered if that meant he was going to pass out again. "We've been falling for a while, huh?” John remarked, as casual as ever.“I wonder when we're going to-"

They smashed through a glass-like surface, and the last thing Dave remembered seeing was the back of John's head crumpling like tissue paper and one of his eyes flying out of its socket.


End file.
